A Bigger Lie Than Even “You Can Keep Your Doctor”: The Gender Pay Gap Myth

President Obama’s comments regarding the gender pay gap and discrimination are as vicious a lie as his statements that you can keep your doctor. The idea that women earn $.77 for every $1.00 that men earn, for equal work, has never been true, never in the slightest.

That $.77 comparison is not for equal work. It strictly represents the reality that women, more often than men, work at jobs that are lower paying. The reason for such jobs might include school and family situations, flexibility of schedule, and their desires to be able to be use work secondarily for their needs for their families or a source of discretionary income.

There is actually no evidence of any discrimination for women doing the same work an being paid less. If the world of labor could indeed pay women less (23% less) for equal work, why isn’t virtually every company hiring only women as a means to curb costs and increase profit?

“An analysis of staff salaries done last fall by the conservative American Enterprise Institute found the president’s female aides were paid 88 cents for every dollar paid to men, about $65,000 to $73,729 annually. On Monday, Carney argued the comparison is based on aggregate wages that include the lowest salaries at the White House “which may or may not be — depending on the institution — filled by more women than men.”

He said men and women in equivalent roles at the White House earn the same amount and that 10 of 16 department heads are women, earning the top White House salary of $172,200″.

Here we have the Obama administration admitting that more women are in jobs that include the lowest salaries at the White House.

So, it is not gender discrimination at the White House, which is what Obama has tried to claim in his “$.77 cents” missive and new Executive Order. He wants to apply that label when discussing the “gender pay gap” to all other businesses (as a means to appeal to his female base), but then when the spotlight is shined on the White House pay scale, Obama retreats from that rhetoric.

As he should. Because the gender pay gap is truly a myth. And Obama’s own White House data and discussion prove it.